


Breathless

by WillGrammer



Category: Papillon (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Anxiety, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Long Shot, M/M, Romance, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 02:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16802170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillGrammer/pseuds/WillGrammer
Summary: Based on Tumblr artist reeacat's art of Louis Dega in 1930's men's fashion, along with a little plot on my side.





	Breathless

There he was, Louis Dega, the most known forger in Marseilles. Dressed in a brown suit, a sunflower tucked in the left side of his jacket, above a white handkerchief in his suit pocket.

The scent of lavender reeked off him as he limped through the hall, holding a golden cane in his left hand to support himself.  
  
Crowds of people talked, laughed and argued around him, enjoying the music and each other's company, though their voices and the sounds of the piano notes that danced across the room with elegance were mute to him, since something else than having a good time occupied his mind.  
  
Henri was supposed to be here by now.  
  
Louis sighed, peeking into his wristwatch every three minutes, worry running through his veins to the thought of anything happening to him.  
  
It's been months since he was brought to Venezuela on a boat, leaving his garden and ceiling paintings behind when he was called to the front of the island by the blond's trusted friends.  
  
Seeing him in the harbor was a sight Louis would never forget.

His shoulders raised as he wore a simple navy blue shirt that matched his eyes and made them glow under the strong sunlight, his blond hair shining over his forehead, strains of it falling to the side of his head due to the light breeze, and a wide grin that would soften steel was spread across his face.  
  
He grew his beard during the few months after his escape, and Dega remembered how he was crushed by him as soon as he stepped off the boat.  
  
Being raised by him and hugged as tightly as he was, Dega nearly thought his spine would crack, but it didn't.

And as Henri hugged him, he remembered the way he closed his eyes and breathed against his shoulder, apologizing to him about his decision to stay behind on the island months ago.  
  
Henri laughed at that, smacking the back of his head, causing Dega to gasp when he was thrown closer against him, his legs hanging in the air.  
  
He remembered how they both cried in Henri's car later.  
  
  
-  
  
  
Louis did his best not to run his hand through his hair and tug it, as he did during his time Devil's Island. He remembered how wild his hair grew to be because of it, and he didn't want to appear more nervous than he already was.  
  
Henri told him time after time that they were both safe in Venezuela since French couldn't claim them back.

It was true, the law didn't reach here, the people loved Henri, he made many friends and supporters that had helped him back into civilization as a free man, and Dega admired that about those men and women.  
  
How humane they were to them both, when their own people, the French, were not.  
  
Deep down he knew his place was far from here. Away from these good, honest, hard-working people. He was a forger that got caught, and only by luck, he met the blond who later grew closer to him. Protective of him.  
  
He caused Henri a lot of trouble when he was brought here.  
  
Cost him to swear to the local authorities that he would not return to his old source of income; and Louis hated the way Henri waved off those weeks in where he ran from one appointment to another, arranging him a passport and sending him to the hospital for his bad leg.  
  
Louis appreciated it. He owed him his life, literally, and it hurt to know that he was such a heavy load on his dear friend when they have reunited thanks to his inability to let him go.

  
‘You really thought that I would let you grow a garden in some dirty island for the rest of your life?’, he said, one night when they drank after dinner, standing in the balcony of their shared apartment.  
  
Papillon's tongue tasted like the strong rum he swallowed down seconds before he kissed him.  
  
They had grown closer. Sharing two bodies and yet their souls were united as if they never knew life without the other before.  
  
  
-

  
  
“Louis!”  
  
The sound of his name being called from afar made Dega look up from his wrist, his heart missing a beat when he saw Henri walking towards him, holding a bouquet of sunflowers across from his firm chest.

Dressed in a dark suit, his blue eyes glowing and his blond hair pushed back with gel, a few strands of it falling over his forehead as he began walking faster.  
  
He grinned, and Louis could only stand there, breathless as every bone in his body melted, his grip over his cane tightening and he lifted his hand to smack the side of Charrière's ass when he came closer and was about to hug him.  
  
Henri groaned and held the cane back, smiling sadly at Dega's reasonable reaction to his late arrival.  
  
“I was worried, you idiot,” he gasped out as he was cornered against the wall, the bequest of sunflowers now pressed between his and Charrière's chests.  
  
“About what, Louis?” Papillon hummed, his brows raised as he continued to smile, enjoying the moment they shared.  
  
He then leaned down to brush his beard against Louis's neck, making him sigh and roll his eyes before he felt two delicate hands grabbing his face, tanned palms touching his beard.

He was forced upwards to meet Dega's full lips against his own, and the sound of Louis’ cane hitting the floor left them both breathless when it echoed in their ears while they kissed.  
  
“About you,” the smaller man breathed into Henri's mouth, all background noise now becoming their breaths instead of the crowds of people and music around them.  
  
Henri then placed his hands over Louis’ hips, moving his lips against the other's as he robbed his hip bones and sneaked his pale, warm fingers under the jacket of his suit and tucked shirt, touching the skin there, making Dega gasp to the feeling.  
  
“Good to know,” he kissed him softly, sucking over his lip, tugging it playfully before they parted to breathe, and he could only stare at the pair of grey eyes that gazed him behind those round glasses, standing out all the more thanks to the green tie around his neck.

The lances of his glasses now fuggy before Papillon brought up his hand to remove them from his lover's nose, watching him blink.  
  
“I love you, I'm sorry I was late,” he then apologized and moved away to release Louis from their position, watching his chest rise and fall while he gained back his breath, and cleaned his glasses with the hem of his shirt before putting them back on him.  
  
Louis opened his eyes and moved his glasses down before he fixed them against his nose, his fingers unsteady when he exhaled heavily into the space between their chests.

He then leaned down to reach for his cane before Henri pressed his palm against his chest to push him back against the wall, and reached for the cane himself.  
  
“I got it,” he told him, then handed it over and took his hand away, tucking his shirt back to his pants and rubbing the side of his face with care when Dega watched him in silence.  
  
“I really am sorry, darling. I wanted to surprise you,” the blond breathed out and took Dega's right hand in his own, squeezing it, watching the way tension left him.  
  
“I know,” Louis nodded his head, his voice soft as he spoke. “I'm not angry. But you did deserve that hit if you ask me.”  
  
Henri laughed, leaning closer to him, drawn to him, like a magnet. “In my ass?”  
  
Louis smiled, nodding his head as he began limping away from him.  
  
"Especially in your ass, darling.”

Henri followed him, his grip on his hand only tightening throughout the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing this was a huge relief to me since I haven't been able to write anything on my own for weeks now.
> 
> You should check reeacat's art! She's super talented and she had actually created a small comic for my first Depillon work, 'In The Moment'. :) 
> 
> Her Tumblr: https://reeacat.tumblr.com/  
> My Tumblr: https://will-grammer.tumblr.com/
> 
> Please kudos and leave your thoughts down below! I want to know what you think, feedback means a great deal to me. 
> 
> As always, until next time. 
> 
> -Alex.


End file.
